Meat Processors Have Their Own Code of Silence

An eye-opening piece in the New York Times earlier this week left me thinking of the notorious "Blue Code of Silence", the unwritten rule in which police officers refuse to rat out their colleagues even when they know they've broken the law.

The Timesstory, written by Michael Moss, examines the lapses in safety testing for pathogens such as E. coli in ground beef. The story centered on a massive recall of more than 1 million pounds of ground beef by Cargill in 2007. Cargill had accepted trimmings from various suppliers, including a company in Uruguay, and combined them to create ground beef for its frozen patties. Cargill didn't test the scraps before they mixed them together, relying on reports from its suppliers, and only conducted its own tests on the finished product.

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As it turns out, Moss learned, some meat processors aren't testing meat trimmings and other cuts they receive from suppliers specifically to avoid touching off a round of recalls should they find anything. The story further suggests that some major suppliers, such as Tyson Foods, specifically forbid their customers from testing. A Tyson spokesman quoted in the story denied the allegation but added "we don't believe secondary testing by grinders is a necessity."

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My curiosity piqued, I contacted representatives for Tyson, American Foodservice, and Cargill – all were represented in the story – to ask if they thought the Times piece was accurate. In an email to Tyson's Gary Mickelson, I also asked if Tyson's had ever told any of its clients that secondary testing was unnecessary, or whether they had refused to do business with a company that conducted such tests. I posed similar questions to Timothy Biela, food safety officer at American Foodservice, and to Mark Klein, director of media relations, at Cargill. Only Cargill replied, but their response was evasive, at best.

"Cargill conducts nearly 400,000 tests for pathogens each year using a testing methodology that exceeds U. S. Department of Agriculture standards. We also require our suppliers to test using a methodology that exceeds USDA standards. A complete food safety system combines antimicrobial interventions, employee training and safe, food-handling procedures with testing. The testing verifies the effectiveness of all of these procedures.

"Over the past 10 years, Cargill has invested $1 billion in ongoing meat science research and new food safety technologies and interventions. We are committed to continuous improvement in the area of food safety."

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, there have been five recalls of ground beef just this year because of potential contamination with E. coli 0157:H7. An additional recall was conducted, too, because meat imported from Canada wasn't re-inspected before it was distributed to retailers.

Think about that when you buy your next package of ground beef. The Blue Code of Silence isn't intended to protect consumers.